Jockeys killed in revenge arson attack, court hears

Caretaker Peter Brown denies murdering Jamie Kyne and Jan Wilson after being barred from party

Jockeys Jamie Kyne, left, and Jan Wilson were not involved in Peter Brown's quarrels with neighbours but died when fire gutted their building, a jury heard. Photographs: John Walton/Empics Sport; John Grossick/Racingfotos.com John Walton/EMPICS Sport and John Grossick/Racingfotos.com

Two promising young jockeys died in an arson attack by a drunken neighbour out for revenge after a series of snubs, a court heard today.

Peter Brown, a caretaker, who turned to drink and drugs after a marriage breakup, set fire to the communal entrance of flats in a converted pub and tannery, where the teenagers were asleep in their flat on the fifth floor.

Jamie Kyne, 18, and Jan Wilson, 19, had not been involved in Brown's quarrels, but were caught as flames took hold rapidly and gutted the building in Norton, North Yorkshire, in September. Kyne had ridden 29 winners in the 2009 season and came third in the apprentice jockeys' championship.

Wilson was reckoned to be one of the most promising young women in horseracing. Both riders were working for trainers at North Yorkshire stables: Kyne for John Quinn and Wilson for David Barron.

Brown, 37, denies two murder charges and two allegations of manslaughter and one of arson with intent to endanger life.

Richard Mansell, prosecuting, told Leeds crown court, Brown had been overheard two months before the attack "threatening to torch the place" and had drunkenly said he would burn another neighbour's door down. His bitterness stemmed from rebuffs by young people in a first-floor flat and boiled over when he was turned away from a party they were holding on the evening of the tragedy.

Mansell told the jury that Brown, a father of one, had left presents and texted an 18-year-old girl who was staying in the flat earlier in the year and was furious when she did not respond. His notions of revenge were fuelled when he turned up drunk on the first-floor flat's doorstep in June last year and threatened to burn down the door when he was not let in.

Mansell told the court the party snub was the final straw. "He committed these offences out of revenge for what he perceived was his humiliation suffered at the hands of the occupants of the flat, who had insulted him and refused him entry to the party just three hours or so earlier."

The court heard Brown had quickly turned nasty after earlier clashes. After an initial barrage of admiring texts to the 18-year-old, he sent messages calling her a whore and threatened to kill her boyfriend. He insulted another young woman in the flat when she objected to him trying to sell cocaine to her boyfriend. Mansell told the court Brown had called the woman "a daft bitch".

The court was told Brown had helped with the conversion of the building into flats and later moved in as caretaker. His personal life had deteriorated and he split from his wife, Javeira, with whom he had a son, in 2006. That year he was convicted of criminal damage and sending his wife obscene or menacing text messages.

The court heard that Brown had drunk whisky and lager and snorted a line of cocaine before using an accelerant, possibly white spirit, and a pile of rubbish to start the fire. He had been abusive and aggressive to police and firefighters and made a "foolhardy and pointless" attempt to go back into the burning building.

"You may like to consider whether this was nothing more than a feigned performance designed to cover his tracks," said Mansell.